Hermetic Dictionary
Encyclopedic index of philosophical and alchemical concepts.
Compact Directory
GENERAL
Hermes LatinusPietro PomponazziRejected KnowledgeSymphorien ChampierYates ParadigmALCHEMICAL
AlchemyChrysopoeiaLapis PhilosophorumPrima MateriaQuintessenceSolve et CoagulaSpagyricsTria PrimaCOSMOLOGICAL
Anima MundiAnima Mundi (Divine Soul)DecansDemiurgeEgyptEmanationismEmanationsHeimarmene (Fate)Infinite SphereMacrocosm and MicrocosmOkhemaPlanetary MansionsPneuma / SpiritusSympatheiaLINGUISTIC
AretalogyPHILOSOPHICAL
Altered States of KnowledgeArcheusAstral MagicCosmic AscentDoctrine of CorrespondenceEnnoia (Thought)Historical ImaginationImmanence of RatioImmanent LogosLearned MagicLogosMagia NaturalisMagical ImaginationNousOchemaPhantasmataPhilosophical HermeticaPhronesis (Practical Wisdom)The MonadVirtus LociSCIENTIFIC
SuffumigationTalismansTechnical HermeticaTHEOLOGICAL
AnthroposChristian KabbalahChristian TheosophyDeificationEnnead (The Ninth)EusebeiaGnosisGod MakingHermetic CirclesHermetic PersonaLumen Gloriae (Light of Glory)Monas GenerativaOgdoad (The Eighth)PalingenesiaPerfect Nature (Al-Tabi'a al-Tamma)Philosophia PerennisPlanetary SpiritsPrisca TheologiaPronoia (Providence)ProphecyRegenerationSerapisThe Book of ThothThe Way of HermesTheurgical StatuesTheurgyThriskeiaUnio MysticaVia UniversalisWay of HermesGENERAL
Analyst Term
Hermes Latinus
An Analyst Term denoting the medieval Latin Hermetic tradition distinct from the Italian Renaissance rediscovery of Greek Hermetic texts in the fifteenth century. Medieval European scholars had access to Hermetic…
Pietro Pomponazzi
Pietro Pomponazzi (1462–1525) is an Analyst Term referring to the controversial Renaissance natural philosopher whose defense of the natural causes of apparently miraculous phenomena influenced Hermetic and magical philosophy. Pomponazzi's…
Analyst TermRejected Knowledge
An Analyst Term denoting knowledge claims and traditions that mainstream intellectual institutions (universities, churches, academies) have rejected, denied legitimacy to, or marginalized as superstition, heresy, or unscientific — even when…
Symphorien Champier
Symphorien Champier (c. 1472–c. 1539) was a French Renaissance physician, humanist, and prolific author based in Lyon who served as physician to Antoine, Duke of Lorraine. One of the earliest…
Analyst TermYates Paradigm
An Analyst Term for the historiographical thesis articulated by Frances A. Yates in Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964), arguing that Renaissance Hermeticism profoundly influenced the Scientific Revolution and…
ALCHEMICAL
Actor Term
Alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic al-kimiya, itself probably from Greek chymeia or the Coptic kame, "black earth") is an Actor Term denoting the ensemble of laboratory, philosophical, and spiritual practices aimed at…
Actor TermChrysopoeia
Chrysopoeia (Greek: chrysopoiia, 'gold-making') is an Actor Term designating the alchemical practice of transmuting base metals into gold through chemical and philosophical operations. Attested from the earliest Greek alchemical papyri…
Actor TermLapis Philosophorum
The Lapis Philosophorum (Latin: 'Philosopher's Stone') is an Actor Term for the supreme agent of the alchemical Great Work — a substance, variously described as a powder, tincture, or stone,…
Actor TermPrima Materia
Prima materia (Latin: "first matter") is an Actor Term designating the undifferentiated primordial substrate from which all metals and compound substances are composed in alchemical theory. It is simultaneously the…
Actor TermQuintessence
The fifth element; the ethereal substance beyond the four earthly elements.…
Actor TermSolve et Coagula
Solve et coagula (Latin: 'dissolve and coagulate') is an Actor Term designating the fundamental paired operations of Western alchemy — the dissolution of a substance into its constituent principles and…
Actor TermSpagyrics
The alchemical practice of separating and reuniting plant or mineral components.…
Actor TermTria Prima
The three primary principles of Paracelsian alchemy: Sulphur (the principle of combustibility and soul), Mercury (the principle of fluidity and spirit), and Salt (the principle of fixity and body). Introduced…
COSMOLOGICAL
Actor Term
Anima Mundi
The World Soul — the animating principle that pervades and governs the material cosmos, conceived as an intermediary between the divine intellect and inert matter. Derived from Plato's Timaeus and…
Actor TermAnima Mundi (Divine Soul)
From Liber XXIV: "God is the soul of the world, whose body is the universe."…
Actor TermDecans
The Decans are an Actor Term designating the thirty-six Egyptian stellar deities — each governing ten degrees of the zodiacal circle, one third of each zodiacal sign — that were…
Actor TermDemiurge
Demiurge (Greek: demiurgos, craftsman, artisan) is an Actor Term employed in the Philosophical Hermetica to denote the divine Craftsman who fashions and governs the material cosmos, derived ultimately from Plato's…
Actor TermEgypt
The geographical and cultural matrix of the Hermetic literary tradition. The Hermetic texts present their wisdom as Egyptian in origin, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus as a Hellenised Thoth. Modern scholarship…
Actor TermEmanationism
Emanationism is an Actor Term denoting the cosmological doctrine, present in the Philosophical Hermetica and closely parallel to Plotinian Neoplatonism, that reality proceeds from a transcendent divine source by a…
Actor TermEmanations
The process by which divine reality unfolds from a single primordial source into progressively differentiated levels of being. Derived from Neoplatonic metaphysics, emanation describes the overflow of the One into…
Actor TermHeimarmene (Fate)
Heimarmene (Greek: that which is apportioned, Fate) is an Actor Term employed throughout the Philosophical Hermetica to denote the binding cosmic law exercised by the seven planetary governors over human…
Actor TermInfinite Sphere
The definition of God as an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere and circumference is nowhere.…
Actor TermMacrocosm and Microcosm
The macrocosm-microcosm analogy is an Actor Term designating the structural correspondence between the great world (Greek: makrokosmos) and the small world of the human being (Greek: mikrokosmos) — so that…
Actor TermOkhema
Variant spelling of ochema — the subtle vehicle or luminous body of the soul in late Platonic and Hermetic cosmology. The okhema is the soul's intermediary body: descended from the…
Actor TermPlanetary Mansions
Planetary Mansions — Arabic manzil al-qamar (lunar mansion, station of the moon) — is an Actor Term denoting the system of 28 divisions of the lunar zodiac through which the…
Actor TermPneuma / Spiritus
Pneuma (Greek: breath, wind, spirit; Latin: spiritus) is an Actor Term employed in both the Philosophical and Technical Hermetica to denote the subtle vital breath that pervades the cosmos and…
Actor TermSympatheia
Sympatheia (Greek: "co-feeling," mutual affinity) is an Actor Term drawn from Stoic cosmology and adapted by Hermetic and Neoplatonic writers to describe the invisible bonds of affinity that link all…
LINGUISTIC
PHILOSOPHICAL
Analyst Term
Altered States of Knowledge
Altered States of Knowledge is an Analyst Term introduced by Wouter J. Hanegraaff in Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination (2022) to describe the epistemological dimension of Hermetic gnosis. The…
Actor TermArcheus
The vital, animating force within living beings.…
Actor TermAstral Magic
Astral Magic is an Actor Term designating the practice of drawing down and directing the influences of stars, planets, and decans through talismans, ritual procedures, prayers, and suffumigations timed to…
Actor TermCosmic Ascent
Cosmic Ascent is an Actor Term central to the soteriology of the Philosophical Hermetica, denoting the soul's journey upward through the seven planetary spheres after the death of the body…
Actor TermDoctrine of Correspondence
The doctrine of correspondence is an Actor Term designating the principle that the universe is structured in layers of analogous relationships — celestial, terrestrial, and subterranean — in which each…
Actor TermEnnoia (Thought)
Ennoia (Greek: en + nous, inner thought, concept) is an Actor Term employed in the Philosophical Hermetica to denote the first interior movement of the divine Nous — the generative…
Analyst TermHistorical Imagination
Historical Imagination is an Analyst Term introduced by Wouter J. Hanegraaff as the organizing framework of his Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination (2022). It designates the faculty — operative…
Analyst TermImmanence of Ratio
Immanence of Ratio is an Analyst Term introduced by Mark Damien Delp, in collaboration with Paolo Lucentini, to describe the distinctive 12th-century intellectual tendency to ground the rational investigation of…
HybridImmanent Logos
The divine principle of reason as an internal structure within the human mind.…
Analyst TermLearned Magic
Learned Magic is an Analyst Term for ritual and intellectual practices that depend on book learning, Latin or Arabic authority, formal prayers, diagrams, and controlled technique rather than vernacular charm…
Actor TermLogos
Logos (Greek: word, reason, account) is an Actor Term employed in the Philosophical Hermetica to denote the divine creative Word through which the intellect of God becomes effective in the…
Actor TermMagia Naturalis
Natural magic; the manipulation of occult properties inherently present in nature.…
Actor TermMagical Imagination
Magical Imagination is an Actor Term designating the imagination (Greek phantasia, Latin imaginatio) as an active cognitive faculty capable of mediating between the material and spiritual worlds and effecting real…
Actor TermNous
Nous (Greek: mind, intellect) is an Actor Term employed by the authors of the Philosophical Hermetica to denote the supreme divine intellect — the second principle of reality after the…
Actor TermOchema
Ochema (Greek: ochema, 'vehicle' or 'chariot') is an Actor Term designating the pneumatic or luminous subtle body that serves as the vehicle of the rational soul in Neoplatonic and Hermetic…
Actor TermPhantasmata
Phantasmata (Greek: phantasmata, "phantasms" or "appearances") is an Actor Term denoting in Neoplatonic philosophy the realm of mental images and imagination intermediate between material sensation and pure intellectual knowledge. In…
Analyst TermPhilosophical Hermetica
Philosophical Hermetica is an Analyst Term coined by modern scholars — principally André-Jean Festugière in La Révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste (1944–1954) — to designate the theological and philosophical dialogues of the…
Actor TermPhronesis (Practical Wisdom)
A type of wisdom or mindfulness that allows the practitioner to navigate the material world without losing sight of the divine.…
Actor TermThe Monad
The singular, indivisible principle of unity at the root of all existence.…
Actor TermVirtus Loci
The power or virtue inherent in a particular place, arising from its position relative to celestial bodies, its geological or hydrological character, or its historical associations with divine presence. A…
SCIENTIFIC
Actor Term
Suffumigation
Suffumigation (Latin suffumigatio; Arabic tadkhin) is an Actor Term denoting the ritual burning of aromatic substances — resins, herbs, animal products, and mineral compounds — in order to attract, bind,…
Actor TermTalismans
Talismans (from Arabic tilasm, itself from Greek telesma, "completion" or "consecrated object") are an Actor Term denoting physical objects — typically engraved metal plates, stones, or figures — constructed under…
Analyst TermTechnical Hermetica
Technical Hermetica is an Analyst Term — Festugière's category, introduced in La Révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste vol. 1 (1944) — designating the astrological, alchemical, magical, and medical texts attributed to Hermes…
THEOLOGICAL
Actor Term
Anthropos
Anthropos (Greek: human being, man) is an Actor Term employed in the Philosophical Hermetica — most elaborately in Corpus Hermeticum I, the Poimandres — to denote the divine Man, the…
Analyst TermChristian Kabbalah
Christian Kabbalah is an Analyst Term — a retrospective scholarly category — designating the 15th- through 17th-century movement in which Christian humanists, theologians, and philosophers appropriated Jewish Kabbalistic texts, concepts,…
Analyst TermChristian Theosophy
A post-Reformation current originating with Böhme focusing on the inner life of God and nature.…
Actor TermDeification
Deification (Greek: apotheosis, theopoiesis; Latin: deificatio) is an Actor Term central to the soteriology of the Philosophical Hermetica, denoting the transformation of the mortal human being into a divine state…
Actor TermEnnead (The Ninth)
The Ennead (Greek enneas, "nine") is an Actor Term denoting the ninth and highest sphere of the Hermetic cosmos, situated above the seven planetary spheres and the Ogdoad (the eighth…
Actor TermEusebeia
Eusebeia (Greek: piety, reverence, right relationship to the divine) is an Actor Term employed in the Philosophical Hermetica — notably Corpus Hermeticum IX, X, and XII — to denote not…
Actor TermGnosis
Salvific knowledge — direct, experiential apprehension of divine reality that transforms the knower. Distinct from rational discursive knowledge (episteme) or mere belief (pistis), gnosis in the Hermetic texts is an…
Actor TermGod Making
God making (Greek theopoiia) is an Actor Term denoting the ritual practice, described in the Latin Asclepius (chapters 23–24), by which Egyptian priests animated divine statues by drawing the souls…
Actor TermHermetic Circles
Hermetic Circles is an Actor Term denoting the communities — real or literary — organized around the reception and transmission of Hermetic revelation, as reflected in the teacher-student dialogues that…
Actor TermHermetic Persona
The idealized figure of Hermes Trismegistus as a sage-prophet, used to authorize Hermetic revelation.…
Actor TermLumen Gloriae (Light of Glory)
The divine illumination through which God is known, as described in the Liber XXIV philosophorum.…
Actor TermMonas Generativa
From Liber XXIV: "God is the Monad, generating the Monad, reflecting upon itself the fire of love."…
Actor TermOgdoad (The Eighth)
The Ogdoad (Greek ogdoas, "eight") is an Actor Term denoting the eighth sphere of the Hermetic cosmos, situated above the seven planetary spheres, where the ascending soul sheds the last…
Actor TermPalingenesia
Rebirth or regeneration — the transformation of the soul into a new condition through initiation, gnosis, or ritual renewal. In the Hermetic Corpus, particularly Corpus Hermeticum XIII, palingenesia denotes a…
Actor TermPerfect Nature (Al-Tabi'a al-Tamma)
Al-tabi'a al-tamma (Arabic: the Perfect Nature) is an Actor Term from the Arabic Hermetic tradition denoting a personal celestial guardian — the sage's spiritual counterpart or higher self — that…
Actor TermPhilosophia Perennis
Philosophia perennis (Latin: "perennial philosophy") is an Actor Term — in its original usage — denoting the claim that a single, unchanging divine truth underlies all genuine philosophical and theological…
Actor TermPlanetary Spirits
Planetary spirits are an Actor Term denoting the intermediate divine or daemonic intelligences associated with the seven classical planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon), conceived…
Actor TermPrisca Theologia
The doctrine of an ancient, singular theology given by God to early sages.…
Actor TermPronoia (Providence)
Pronoia (Greek: forethought, providence) is an Actor Term denoting divine care for the cosmos and the soul's capacity for return to the divine, deployed throughout the Hermetic philosophical texts as…
Actor TermProphecy
Prophecy is an Actor Term designating the revelatory function attributed to Hermes Trismegistus throughout the Hermetic tradition — the claim that Hermes received divine knowledge in visionary experience and was…
Actor TermRegeneration
Regeneration (Greek palingenesia, "rebirth" or "new generation") is an Actor Term denoting the process by which, according to Corpus Hermeticum XIII, the human being is spiritually reborn through the direct…
Actor TermSerapis
Serapis is an Actor Term denoting the Greco-Egyptian syncretic deity created under Ptolemy I Soter (305–282 BCE) through the deliberate fusion of Osiris and Apis with Hellenic divine attributes —…
Actor TermThe Book of Thoth
The Book of Thoth is an Actor Term denoting the mythologized corpus of sacred knowledge attributed to Thoth — the Egyptian god of writing, wisdom, and the scribal arts, later…
Actor TermThe Way of Hermes
The Way of Hermes (Greek: hodos) is an Actor Term designating the distinctive Hermetic path of spiritual initiation and contemplative ascent described in the philosophical treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum.…
Actor TermTheurgical Statues
Theurgical Statues is an Actor Term denoting the Egyptian and late antique practice of animating statues of the gods with divine presence through the use of herbs, stones, aromatic materials,…
Actor TermTheurgy
Theurgy (Greek: theos + ergon, "divine work") is an Actor Term denoting ritual practices by which a practitioner sought to unite with or attract the presence of divine powers through…
Actor TermThriskeia
Thriskeia (Greek: religious observance, piety, cultic practice) is an Actor Term deployed in the Hermetic texts to name the lived religious orientation of the initiated sage — not external ritual…
Analyst TermUnio Mystica
Unio mystica (Latin: mystical union) is an Analyst Term — a retrospective scholarly and theological category imported from Christian mystical theology — denoting the experiential goal of mystical traditions understood…
Analyst TermVia Universalis
Via universalis (Latin: the universal way) is an Analyst Term denoting the claim, implicit in several Corpus Hermeticum tractates and explicit in later prisca theologia traditions, that the Hermetic path…
Actor TermWay of Hermes
The experiential and contemplative path leading to Hermetic gnosis.…